A flat flexible circuit conventionally includes an elongated flat flexible dielectric substrate having laterally spaced strips of conductors on one or both sides thereof. The conductors may be covered with a thin, flexible protective layer on one or both sides of the circuit. If protective layers are used, openings are formed therein to expose the underlying conductors at desired contact locations where the conductors are to engage the conductors of a complementary mating connecting device which may be a second flat flexible circuit, a printed circuit board or the terminals of a mating connector.
A wide variety of connectors have been designed over the years for terminating or interconnecting flat flexible circuits with complementary mating connecting devices. However, problems continue to plague such connectors, particularly in the area of cost, complexity and reliability. Not only is the direct material costs of such connectors relatively high, but an undue amount of labor time is required in assembling such connectors. Furthermore, each connector is designed and manufactured to accommodate a particular flexible circuit size with a fixed conductor spacing and therefore for each size flexible circuit a single connector must be designed, manufactured and inventoried. In addition, the cost and time associated with application tooling for the connectors and their flexible circuits also adds to the problems associated with such connectors. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing simple, inexpensive and reliable connector structures not heretofore available.